Worlds Collide
by Starlit Purple
Summary: What happened behind the scenes after Syd came back to her room and realized her new teammate had moved in?


Disclaimer/Author note: Hey! I *can* (YAY ASTERISKS!) write something other than Space! :D A change of characters, but they still belong to Disney. This takes place during _Confronted_, after Jack leaves the room. At the time I wrote this, I was thinking of developing it into a story of the behind-the-scenes lives of Syd and Z, but I never did anymore for it. I may in the future though, I kinda wanna see how it would turn out. But for now anyway, here's this. :)

Worlds Collide  
by Starlit Purple

"What a _jerk_!"

Syd and Z caught one another's eye as they laughed at their shared opinion of their "leader's" orders. They stood there for a few seconds, then Z turned and flounced back over to her bed. Sitting down upon it, she reached over and picked up her headset.

Syd had moved back over to her own bed, now flesh against the wall, and was straightening up her sheets. Once satisfied, she placed Peanuts in the center of her bed, in front of her pillows and turned to find her new roommate plugging her headset back in. "What are you doing?"

Z turned and raised her eyebrows. "Jack's just being an ass. He's taking advantage of his power as a leader and I doubt he'll even come back to look. Plus," she said after a moments pause. "I just got all my stuff moved in here, I'm taking a good break before I start organizing and putting things away."

"But training's in 2 hours," Syd countered. "And it looked like you were already on break...with _my Peanuts_," she said pointedly.

Z shrugged her shoulders and hopped up on her bed, scooting back against the wall. "Whatever you say," she replied, trying to keep from rolling her eyes. She went to grab her headset again, which she had deposited on her bed when she went to hook it back to the system, but Syd stepped forward and snatched it out of her grasp. "Hey--!"

"Look, I don't like this either." She took a step back as Z reached for the cord to the headset, and continued. "And it's not right, but around here we follow orders. _Even,_" she ground out, "when the orders are questionable. And since _someone_ moved all my stuff around, I have some cleaning to do too."

Z slid forward, dangling her legs over the side of the bed, a contemptuous look on her face as she snatched the headphones out of Syd's hand; but her retort was cut off as their door slid open again.

Jack meandered back in with an amused look on his face. He looked around the room, over-exaggerating when he turned around completely on the spot in surveillance. "That was an order, ladies. I suggest you get started if you're going to be done in--" he paused and looked at an imaginary watch on his arm, "what, an hour and forty-five minutes now? Tut-tut."

And with that, he turned to leave again. "Oh, and," he paused at the door and looked pointedly at Z, "I _will_ be back before training. Happy cleaning!" he tossed over his shoulder as the doors slid closed behind him once more.

Z let out a growl and turned away from Syd as she muttered something under her breath. The two girls moved to their respective sides of the room and got to work in silence.

Syd had finished her side first and was perched on the edge of her bed, Peanuts in her lap, watching Z unpack the last of a moderate-sized box and filling a dresser drawer with an arm-full of clothes. Those were the only clothes she'd seen her teammate unpack, and there weren't anymore boxes on the floor... She laughed at the irony of it. Her voice carried in the quiet, and Z turned a look on her. "What?"

She shook her head, not wanting to argue again. It wouldn't do any good to antagonize her, and if they were going to be living together now... Pushing her plushie aside, she stood and made her way over to her roommate. She could see over Z's shoulder now and into the half-full drawer. "Is that all the clothes you brought?"

Z scoffed and pushed the drawer back in. "It's all I have... We don't all have the luxuries of a _princess_," she replied bitterly. She snatched up the empty box and placed it with the others by the door, then moved over to her bed, which looked to be the only thing left to be done. She tossed the stack of sheets and blankets in the--now clean--floor, then fished out the bottom sheet.

Syd followed her across the room with her eyes, and moved forward to pull the yellow fitted sheet around the bottom corners as Z spread it across her bed. When Z noticed, Syd smiled disarmingly. "I didn't mean it that way. I just meant—well if you ever need someone to go shopping with..."

Z smiled. "I guess it's a good thing I won't be needing civilian clothes much around here," she said glancing up at their shared closet full of SPD uniforms. Syd followed her gaze and when she turned back, Z was holding her hand out to her. "Truce?" she asked with raised eyebrows.

Syd took her hand and nodded, smiling. "Truce. Now," she continued, looking back at her roommate's half-made bed, "want some help finishing this? So we can laugh at Jack when he comes in surprised in a few minutes?"

"Oh yes," Z smirked, picked up the top sheet from the floor, and tossed it to her. "Let's go."

*****

When Jack walked back into the girls' room fifteen minutes before training, it was to find it completely spotless. Both girls were sitting on the yellow ranger's bed, bent over a magazine and talking animatedly to each other.

"Well it's good to see that you two can follow orders," he told them, but they acted for all the world as if they couldn't hear him. He could have been talking to the walls as much as they were acknowledging him. He took a deep breath, then, in his most authoritative voice, boomed, "I expect to see you both at training in fifteen minutes. _Don't_ be late!"

As the doors closed behind him, he almost swore he heard Z say "Did you hear something Syd?"


End file.
